Electra

Miss Americana listened carefully to several repetitions of the psychic drone, pursing her lips thoughtfully even as she swayed from foot to foot as though trying to ease some perceived discomfort. "It's not the Grue," she finally said. "It's something different, something that wants to control them as much as it wants to control us. Something about its association with the Legion virus must have given the Grue genetic material some kind of collective sentience, like that of an ant colony. That's going to make it more difficult to pin down, I'm afraid." Setting aside the goatly research for a moment, she walked over to Dragonfly and held out the small jammer, about the size of a powder compact and designed with only a single switch protected in a plastic housing. "I need you to hold onto this for me," she told the other scientist, her voice very serious. "It's a radio frequency jammer. If I fall unconscious or become unresponsive, I need you to activate that right away and do not turn it off until the viral entities are dealt with. It's extremely important."

"We'll contact you by radio when we're ready to return. Thank you again for your help," Wander told Supercape, before turning her attention to Talos. "We came on purpose this time, and with a plan. Last time we were here, you helped us a lot, and we want to do something to help you. We're hoping you can give us some information that will let us do it. We need to get any information you have on the Syndicate Academy, and anything that's happened there since we left. We're going to take the place down, but we have to do it from inside."

"It'll be fine," Erin said, trying to project some confidence. "Just remember," she told Supercape, "if we come out in the middle of an ambush, you get yourself away and let us handle things. We'll radio you when we're ready to come back. But it's probably not going to be a problem," she assured the older hero." She hefted the duffel bag, made sure she had her own backpack, and that everyone else had their things. "All right, we're ready to go," she told Supercape. "Whenever you're ready."

It was a somber-looking group that Supercape walked in on, one that looked ready for action. "You're right on time," Wander told him, taking a printoff out of the computer and handing it to him. "We want to go here, to these coordinates in this universe, and hopefully to get picked up from the same place when we're through. You can communicate across dimensions, right?" Supercape's cross-dimensional senses and general knowledge gave him a good idea of the place they'd be going into. It was underground, an open area surrounded by pipes and wires and flowing water, the usual subterranean noise of a big city. Freedom City, from the coordinates, or one of its analogs. There was plenty of electricity around, but not in the sort of concentrations that would suggest booby traps so much as high power underground lines in the vicinity. It was hard to read much of anything, actually, through all the static caused by one thing and another. But Supercape could also read standard notation, and Earth-V-Malign-1(enemy) was familiar to anyone who dimension hopped. Anti-Earth was not a very nice place to find oneself by accident, or on purpose.

"Of course, Nick." Stesha could easily have corralled the man without the use of the potted plant, but she felt sorry for the poor abused thing. It could use a bit of attention. With a gesture of her hand, the plant greened and began growing, stretching out of its pot in a long vine till it reached Rook, then opening a massive pink tulip-shaped flower. The flower opened wide, wider, widest, enveloping the man, and then closed as though returning to its bud state, with no sign of Rook anywhere. Moments later, the plant had retreated back within the confines of its pot, but looking much healthier. "We'd best get moving if we want to catch the others."

"I'll give you a hand," Miss A said, though she seemed a little bit distracted herself. "Protectron, do you think you can safely get close enough to Lonely Point to make a visual identification without having to engage? I'm not current with the research on your stealth capabilities, and I don't want to see you getting damaged or disabled." She looked over at the animals, then back to Dragonfly. "I assume you're thinking about the possibilities inherent in the fact that the experimental animals, for all their brains are undeveloped, seem to be reacting to the psychic signal? You're going to get PETA down on us, but needs must as the devil drives, I suppose."

Erin nodded at all of them, smiling slightly. "Well, if we're going to do this, there's no group of people I'd rather be with. Supercape will be here any minute to transport us, I've given him reference coordinates for the sewers where we met Talos last time. We may drop into the middle of a fight if he's still there and they don't recognize us. Mark, it's your job to get attention and establish who we are before we have to damage potential allies. Sage, you're doing everything you can to find Pathos and shield us from her. Midnight, you and I are doing any fighting that needs done." It was all just restating what they'd already planned, so it was a lot easier for her than making plans. Saying them again made her feel better. She picked up the bag Trevor had brought along, testing its heft. She could carry it and fight without a problem.

"Can you tell me more about that?" Miss A asked when Gabriel spoke about his imbuing, looking up from her busy writing to meet his eyes. It didn't seem like she disbelieved him, but like she honestly wanted to hear more. Truthfully, Miss A found it rather hard to believe that a mythological angel would come down and give powers to a mortal, since she didn't hold much truck with religions or any other superstition, but that hardly meant that Gabriel was wrong. There were certainly powerful entities capable of enhancing human beings with superpowers, and he could've met one that told him a story designed to resonate with his psyche. There was no magic, just science that had not yet been explained, and she was intrigued to learn more about this mystery.

"I am," Erin told Eve aloud, not having much of a talent for mental communication. "Not looking forward to it, but it's something that I have to do. But if you're not, it's not too late." She looked around at all of them, regarded them silently for a moment. "I know this mission is going to be difficult and extremely dangerous. You'll be putting your lives on the line to, among other things, save somebody who's done awful things, and who may not be worth trying to save if you look at it objectively. If anybody wants to go home now and forget about it, this is the last chance, and no hard feelings." Well, maybe some hard feelings, but a lot fewer than if somebody folded in the middle of the mission, that was for sure. She looked at each of her comrades, meeting their eyes in turn.

Erin smiled a little. "You look fine," she told Mark. "I'd lose the cape entirely if I were you, but it's probably not going to matter. We're all better off in dark colors for this trip. The others should be here any minute, I know Trevor has a lot of stuff he's bringing along." She took a deep breath, studied the rough schematic of the Academy that was all they had to go on. "Are you ready for this? "she asked him. "It could get really tricky, really messy once we get in there and start working."

"Nah, I've been here for hours," Erin joked dryly. She wasn't in her regular uniform, or rather, she had her uniform on, but covered by a black turtleneck and close-fitting black pants. Her hair was concealed by a black cap, making her look more like a burglar or a stagehand than a superhero, but it was a lot more practical than blue and gold for working in the shadows. "You got your food and extra clothes, any equipment you're going to need for your part of things?" she asked, just to make sure. Mark wasn't the most responsible person at the best of times, and he'd been a little flakier than usual lately, not without cause.

March 3, 10pm It was after curfew on a school night, so technically even being out and about could be grounds for a detention, as could skipping class the next day, but Erin wasn't too worried about that. At this point, she figured she'd either graduate or she wouldn't, and if they pulled off this mission they'd probably all get extra credit, and if they didn't, it was likely that she wouldn't make it back. Some things were just more important than school. All her friends had had plenty of opportunity to back out as well, so assuming they all showed up, they were all in the same boat. She'd been here for hours already, making sure the transport was set up, checking and rechecking her heavy backpack of supplies, going over all the intelligence they'd gathered on their last trip to Anti-Earth. She wasn't much of a leader, but if she was going to put Trevor's life and the lives of her other friends in danger, she was going to be as ready as she possibly could. The lights in the main room of Young Freedom's subterranean headquarters were muted, but the lack was made up for by the bright computer screens that had popped up here and there to supplement the archaic-futuristic equipment that Alex's grandpa had installed many years ago. It wasn't a pretty headquarters, but it was functional and free, and in just minutes, it would hold four of Freedom's finest.

Stesha and Derrick took the first dance, of course, and the regular routine of wedding party dances followed. The happy couple seemed lost in each other for the moment, leaving their guests to their own devices. Luckily, the guests were more than capable of entertaining themselves. Chloe certainly looked to be entertained by the handsome young man dancing with her, not to mention impressed with his conversation. "You're going to Africa to do humanitarian work?" she asked. "That's so amazing. I've always wanted to go and do something like that, but my parents insisted that I had to finish college first. Do you know where you're going and what you'll be doing yet?" She seemed fascinated, and not just by Mark's pretty face.

"I see," Miss A murmured, making a few more notes. "I know Fleur de Joie," she commented, "and Dark Star. You couldn't hope to meet much nicer people. Haven't made Freedom Angel's acquaintance yet." The scanner finished its run, and she pulled away the machine to let him sit up more comfortably. "Tell me about your powers," she encouraged, "anything you know about them. How you got them, what they do, how you control them. Temperature all right now?" she thought to ask. "Would you like a drink or anything?"

"I see you have some scars there," Miss A commented easily, making notes on the fancy modified iPad she used when she was working. "Are those some of the aforementioned battlefield wounds, or did you get them somewhere else?" So far she wasn't seeing too much that was unexpected, but the physical exam was a step that had to be taken. She'd feel awfully silly if she skipped that very first step and missed something totally obvious and very important because of it. Thoroughness was a virtue.

"So, I take it you have a history, then?" Stesha asked dryly, but not loudly enough to distract the two combatants. She raised a vine out of one of the planters and opened a bright yellow flower near the villain's face. It released a puff of colorful pollen that bathed the man's face, but it didn't seem to have any of the usual soporific effect. She frowned, allowing the trees to begin waving their branches in the wrestler's direction, distracting and annoying him, for all they couldn't do anything to him.

Gina, for all she didn't dare leave the safety of her robotic shell, spent several long seconds cursing enthusiastically at the absolute stupidity displayed on all sides here. It was obvious that Daedelus hadn't been informed of the full extent of the military's plans for the materials he'd provided, but even so, he should've known better. She knew full well that the League had files on planets where superheroic hubris had made massive disasters out of minor ones, or come up with cures far worse than the diseases they were intended to fight. They kept those files locked up, ostensibly to prevent public panic or loss of faith in superheroes, but apparently they were locked away so thoroughly that even the people who had access didn't learn from them. She'd have to think about that later, and whether the files really served the public good where they were. Right now she was busy, though. She downloaded everything the database contained about the Legion mind virus and the Grue, including all known ways of detecting and defeating them. As she worked in her private lab, Miss A bounced and fidgeted in her seat, trying to ease discomfort that would not go away. Even when inhabiting the robot, Gina was aware of her body, she simply wasn't in control of it. She'd left her body behind at dawn, with insufficient sleep and a breakfast of Pop Tarts and Mountain Dew to tide her over. Normally, she'd simply have stepped aside for a few moments over the course of the morning to deal with her body's needs, but now that was impossible. Leaving the cybernetic neural network that was keeping her safe would mean leaving her mind vulnerable to the psychic virus. Some things she couldn't control at all, but Emerson had good programming and a mop. She wouldn't starve, in the time that was available. But she would need sleep eventually. And in this case, sleep was tantamount to living death. Gina redoubled her focus, gathering up the information and taking it to the biolab while she contacted Sharl and Protectron for updates.

Well, it looks like the actions I've got for the trees now are about what I want them to keep doing. Stesha will stay where she is and take a full-round action to attempt a Stun on the wrestler guy. First roll is no good, spending an HP Second roll is a 22. DC 28 fort save.

"Plenty of people just call me Miss A," she told him with a smile. "Mavis, raise the temperature five degrees," she commanded, though not in Gabriel's direction. A small, boxy robot on the other side of the room lit up and tapped a console, activating the blowers in the ceiling to begin releasing warm air. "That should make you a bit more comfortable," she told her patient. "Though the floor will probably continue to be cold, at least you won't be on it." She gestured to the bed, which looked very much like an adjustable hospital bed. "First off, I'm just going to let the computer run a bioscan on you," she explained, wheeling over a heavy and expensive-looking piece of machinery as though it weighed nothing. "This will give me the same information you'd get during a physical at a doctor's office. You can expect to feel the mechanical arm testing your pulse and blood pressure, and there will be a quick fingerstick for blood tests. Nothing strange, nothing too superscientific just yet," she assured him with a chuckle. "While it does that, can you tell me a little bit about your health generally? Do you often get sick? Any major diseases in adulthood or childhood?"

Miss Americana regarded him for a moment, a patient look on her own unmasked face. "Gabriel, if you trust me, you're going to have to really trust me. I have no interest in delving into your secret identity or using anything I learn here against you. Everything you say, every reading, every recording will be kept in the very highest confidence. But if you really want to learn about the nature and origin of your powers, I am going to have to ask you questions about your history and your habits that will feel far more personal than simply baring your face. But if you're really, truly going to be uncomfortable unless your mask is on," she continued, "I will do my best to work around it."

Erin reached into the safe and took out the papers, looking at them with little comprehension. She just knew that under the circumstances, it was important for Mark's family's affairs to be in order. Alex would know what to do with all of it. "I can't think of anything else," she told Trevor, "but it's not like Mark can't come back anytime he needs to." From the size of the bag he had, she was pretty sure Mark was going to want more clothes and stuff, but now wasn't really the time. "You ready, Mark?"

Fleur let out a quick breath of relief as backup arrived, even if it was in the form of a total stranger. She wasn't looking forward to trying to dodge around that wrestler all by herself! The stranger had impressive power in his voice, that was for sure! "Nice to see you," Fleur called cheerfully to the newcomer, before returning to business. A wave of her hand had the two stately elms that flanked the doors pulling themselves up by their roots, and the trio of sculpted ornamental evergreens sending out leglike runners and stepping out of their pots. The elms moved to flank the diminutive plant controller, while the evergreens moved towards the wrestler with mayhem on their piney minds.

Stesha's going to use "Summon Plants 3 (45PP Minions, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Horde, Range [Ranged], Feats: Progression [Minions] 2 [5 Minions])" She will send three of her tree minions to attack the bad guy, and keep the other two close to act as botanical shields.

14 Looks like the new guy goes first. :D

"We'll start with the basics," Miss A told him cordially, leading him into the center of the room. "A basic physical profile, along with a powers profile and a health history questionnaire. It's not too exciting, I'm afraid, but all of that will give me a base to work from as I decide what tests will be most edifying. If you ever have any questions or feel uncomfortable about anything, just speak up." She took out a robe that seemed at least more substantial than the typical hospital gown and pointed him to a bathroom just off the lab. "Go ahead and change into this. You can keep your underwear and socks on."